The exhaling sounds of the language interrupted by glottal stops, its numerous successive vowels (as many as five in a single word), and its rare consonants drove the missionaries to despair.
Missionary work of followers of institutionalized religions and the subsequent conversions of some members of indigenous communities have also led to conflicts within those communities and the rejection by some members of their indigenous cultures
Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi noted in his diary, "This is a fine place, with good lands and an abundance of water, where a good mission could be placed".
The conversion of Tahiti, notes Gunson, was “merely an expression of the will of Pomare II, based on the religious habits (not the beliefs) of the English missionaries.”